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Billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein arrested on new sex charges

By Allen Cone
Jeffrey Epstein Palm Beach was unlawful sex with minors and one molestation count but pleaded guilty to soliciting a prostitute in 2008 in a plea deal. Photo courtesy Palm Beach Sheriff's Office/Wikimedia Commons
Jeffrey Epstein Palm Beach was unlawful sex with minors and one molestation count but pleaded guilty to soliciting a prostitute in 2008 in a plea deal. Photo courtesy Palm Beach Sheriff's Office/Wikimedia Commons

July 7 (UPI) -- Convicted billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been been indicted on new charges related to alleged sex crimes involving minors, media outlets reported.

Epstein, who lives in South Florida, was arrested Saturday at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey after he had flown from Paris to New York, NBC News reported. The arrest was part of a joint New York Police Department and FBI investigation.

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Epstein, 66, is expected to appear in federal court in New York on Monday, sources told CNN.

He will face federal charges for incidents between 2002-2005, three senior law enforcement sources told NBC News.

Epstein had been accused of sexually abusing more than 30 minor girls between 1999 and 2007 but he secured a non-prosecution deal with federal prosecutors in Miami. In that deal, described as a "deal of a lifetime," he pleaded in 2008 to two state prostitution charges and served only 13 months and avoided a federal trial. He also registered as a sex offender and paid restitution to the victims identified by the FBI.

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Last December, he settled a civil suit in West Palm Beach, Fla., in which his accusers could have testified about abuse as teenagers.

The Daily Beast first reported the arrest Saturday.

Epstein reportedly will be charged with trafficking and conspiracy to traffic minors for sex. at his homes on the Upper East Side of New York and in Palm Beach, Fla.

Dozens of underaged victims, some as young as 14, allegedly were involved.

He paid minors cash for massages and then sex acts,according to the allegations. If the alleged victims bring him their friends or others to pay for sex acts, he would pay them more.

Epstein's lead attorney Jack Goldberger, told NBC News he "declines to comment at this time."

Though prosecutors also are not talking on the record, U.S. Sen Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a statement: "Jeffrey Epstein has evaded justice for too long -- this child rapist belongs in prison and should not be allowed to post bail and hurt more girls."

Sasse, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Oversight Subcommittee, has "repeatedly pressed the Department of Justice to make sure that Epstein pays for his horrendous crimes."

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His 2008 plea deal has drawn scrutiny.

It was overseen by former Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, who is now U.S. labor secretary. Acosta has defended the plea deal as appropriate under the circumstances.

In November, the Miami Herald reported that Acosta had brokered a deal with one of Epstein's attorneys.

At least 40 underage girls were brought into Epstein's Palm Beach mansion for what turned into sexual encounters. Some were allegedly recruited from Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.

Some girls were brought to a home in New York City, a ranch in New Mexico and a private island in the Virgin Islands, court documents show.

"With his money, Epstein was able to buy more than a decade of delay in facing justice - but fortunately he wasn't able to postpone justice forever," said attorney Paul G. Cassell, who is representing four of the girls in the 2008 case.

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